I needed to purchase donuts for Sunday School. Saturday night, I needed to have cash for the following morning's expenditure. Of the three ATM's I visited, all were "Out of Order." I gave up and came home, deciding that if the shoppe did not take cheques, I would go empty handed. Mr. Yourdon was correct, according to MC and Cirrus, there are 465,000 ATMs worldwide, the 5,000 controlled by EDS was miniscule. So,living in Texas, now, I'm guessing it had nothing to do with inter-connectedness. Zev

-- Zev Barak (zev@msn.com), September 20, 1999

Answers

Anyone still using an ATM card to get cash and products deserves having the computer telling you SORRRRRY!!!! Get rid of your ATM card and start using CASH! Cash is king, it's accepted EVERYWHERE! Ever been denied using CASH before? As a matter of fact, you can get some really good deals if you tell businesses and services upfront that you deal only in CASH! I am really surprised at you Yourdonites, I would have THUNK by now that you all would practice what you read and preach! Oh well, ho hum, cash is king.

-- money bags (moneybags@moneybaggs.com), September 20, 1999.

Anyone still using an ATM card to get cash and products deserves having the computer telling you SORRRRRY!!!! Get rid of your ATM card and start using CASH! Cash is king, it's accepted EVERYWHERE! Ever been denied using CASH before?

Yep, some guy in Arizona tried paying a fine with 11,400 pennies. He was told that they had to be wrapped to be accepted. One week later, he returned with them wrapped only to be refused again because his name and case number weren't on every roll.

-- Lynn Ratcliffe (mcgrew@ntr.net), September 20, 1999.

Jeez, I can't believe this. Ever hear of a "rainy day?" Kinda fits on most of the east coast these days, doesn't it?

I've been lucky. I've been employed for 3+ decades, with no more than a month between jobs, and even then it was my choice. For at least 2 of those, I've ALWAYS had about $1,000.00 in cash at the house. Maybe you can't afford that much, but you have NO EXCUSE for not having an extra 20, or 50, or 100, stuck in the corner of your wallet.

Screw Y2K, stuff happens!!!

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), September 20, 1999.

There's a run on the banks, I run every payday to the bank and run right out with cash. The bank already knows the drill......

-- Money Bags (moneybags@moneybaggsss.com), September 20, 1999.

Zev - You're falling for the administration's clever rhetoric - the lesson learned is that ATM's and automatic debits nationwide (from NJ to th eWest Coast) were stopped by one room flooding in one building in one city from one storm.

The lesson is that the effects of an electronic failure are now felt in many thousand different areas, and, in the future, the impact of several (probable) simultaneous failures is going to be much greater....if you choose to believe there will be no effect, exclude me from your planning.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 21, 1999.

Don't the stores where you live have debit card withdrawal abilities? Why does ANYONE go to the ATM's anymore? I cannot understand why someone slows down a checkout line writing a check when they can just swipe their debit card and have the money taken out right then.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), September 21, 1999.

Problem with that Cherri is that, like it happened to me on Sunday, those debit card swipes at my grocery store checkout line were also down.

-- Chris (#$%^&@pond.com), September 21, 1999.

Guess you have to be an "ole timer" to realize the benefit of a check over a debit card. It is called "float". With a debit card, your cash is instantly removed. A check allows you to retain your money a little longer (more days, years ago)and you continue to earn that small amount of interest a wee bit longer than your debit card co-shoppers. The debit card was not invented as a convenience to the shopper. It was invented to put your money into the account of the company at the point of sale. And it saves the bank some interest on your modest account, and pays the interest to the companys account. That's a little bit of true history folks.

-- Nana (drac@mediaone.net), September 21, 1999.